Silent Before God
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In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
The Gospel of Luke begins by introducing us to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest and his wife’s name was Elizabeth.
And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.
They are described as being righteous before God. They kept the commandments of the Lord. These are upstanding people. They do all the right things. But something is not right.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
They have no heir. They are advanced in years, presumably past the typical age of child bearing. It is important to understand how important this was in their culture. First, children were your social security. It was especially dire for widows if they had no children to take care of them. Second, there was a stigma attached to not having children. It was seen as a curse. Luke explains how they are upright. But surely the people would be whispering among each other: “what is the secret sin of Zechariah and Elizabeth to have been cursed by God like this?”
Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
As was mentioned, Zechariah served as a priest. He is on duty with his division. Typically, a division of priests would serve at the temple for a one week period, two times each year.
The incense offering was made twice a day. In the morning and the evening. The priests that offered the incense were chosen by lot. Once you were chosen for this task once, you could never be chosen again. This was the greatest honor that Zechariah would achieve in his career.
And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.
Zechariah goes into the Holy Place where the Altar of Incense was. This was outside the Holy of Holies which was the most Holy Place. The people are praying just outside the Holy Place that Zechariah entered.
The incense represented the prayers of God’s people - which are pleasing to God. We read in Psalm 141:2:
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
Poof, out of nowhere appears this angel. Angel - a heavenly being. They are messengers. Contrary to popular spirituality, people do not become angels when they go to heaven. Angels are angels and people are people. This angel stands to the right of the altar of incense.
And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.
I have never seen an angel. But when we read the Scripture, the sight of an angel provokes a response of fear. We depict angels as something beautiful. Certainly the message that they share is beautiful, but I am not sure if Zechariah or the Shepherds would describe the angels as being beautiful.
But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.
The angel brings good news. The very word gospel is derived from the same word as angel.
Zechariah and Elizabeth and prayed persistently. Everyone had told them to give up. Everyone had told them to move on. But still they prayed. They prayed that God would give them a child, even now when it still seemed impossible.
Maybe you feel God has given up on you. You have prayed and prayed, but you are still waiting. The encouragement here is to keep praying! Keep hoping! Keep believing! God has a plan. God has a future.
And the next verses point to that purpose.
And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
God delights to give his people joy. But more than just the joy of material blessing. The ultimate joy is the joy of his presence. Jesus comes so that we might experience God’s wonderful presence.
But the gift of the child to Zechariah and Elizabeth is more than for Zechariah and Elizabeth’s joy. It says that many will rejoice at the birth. The joy that God gives his people is not a joy to keep to ourselves. But rather it is a joy that overflows. God blesses us to be a blessing to others. And the question we ask, is how do we use the blessings that we have been given to be a blessing to others?
for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
This child is destined for greatness. He will be great before the Lord. He is used powerfully by God to bridge the Old Testament and the New Testament.
It says that he must not drink wine or strong drink. It speaks to the importance of disciplines for the believers. If we are to be equipped to be used by God, there is a commitment we make to Spiritual Disciplines:
Weekly Worship
Daily Devotions
Prayer
Using our gifts for service
Generosity with our money
Spiritual discipline also involves guarding our lives against the excesses of our culture.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
There is nothing wrong with enjoying a good glass of wine. But when drink becomes the way we cope with the challenges of life. When we use it as a way to escape our reality. There is a reason that the word spirits is used to refer to alcohol. There is a spirit that works contrary to the work of the Holy Spirit.
But it is not just alcohol. There are other excesses that draw us away from the Spirit and away from fulfilling God’s purposes. We can take our work and career to excess. Leisure activities that become obsessive.
And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”
Back to the purpose of this child. He will be used to bring people back to God. He will be used to reconcile people to God.
Also, he will be used to turn the hearts of fathers to their children. It speaks to reconciliation to take place in families, in churches, and in communities. Reconciliation among people.
If you have eyes to see, something to recognize is that there is so much brokenness in our community. There is so much hurt in our community. Maybe it is because I am a pastor and people come to me that I see it. But maybe like no other time I have seen just how pain people are enduring. The darkness of sin and Satan weigh heavily all around us.
Broken marriages. Divorce. I did a wedding last week and I shared with the couple that marriage is the closest thing on earth that you can get to heaven. It is also the closest thing that you can get to hell. And all too often couple are experiencing the latter. That is not to mention the kids that suffer because of the unstable home environment.
The pressure to survive. NJ is an expensive place to live. The pressure that is often cause to afford to live and provide for families is enough that has broken many.
Dependencies. Whether is a dependencies on alcohol, on opioids, gambling. How many people depend upon these things that ultimately lock them in a prison.
And the thing that hurting people hurt people. The problem is often compounded. I pass the hurt in my life on to others. Often I need help and my cry out for help is accomplished in unhealthy ways that hurt other people.
But when we look at the coming of John the Baptist his role was to make people ready for the Lord. They may not know it, but the answer to the hurt in people’s lives is God. They have pushed God out of their lives. John’s role is to prepare the way that God may enter in and bring healing from the pain - that they could live a joyful life, a peaceful life, a meaningful life, and abundant life.
And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
But Zechariah scoffs at this thought. I am too old. My wife is too old.
There is always an excuse. Always an excuse. There is always a reason to not be used by God. There is always a reason that keeps you from walking in obedience.
There is always a reason why you cannot serve. Why you cannot give. Why you cannot engage in kingdom work.
There is one word. Doubt! You doubt more than you believe. The reason we fail to give ourselves more to God is because we think we can’t. We doubt the empowering and equipping ability of God to go beyond our human limitations.
But what does the angel say:
And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
Zechariah, wake up! Do you see what you are looking at. I am the Angel Gabriel. I am a heavenly being, the likes of which you have never seen before. I come from the presence of God. The word of God I speak is the very word of God. It is good news. It is great news. And it is this word that coverts doubt into faith.
When weighed down by doubt, by sorrow, by anxiety, by worry, by distress - enter into the presence of God. Go to that places where you know God to dwell. It is in the Sacrament. It is in the Word. And you can be certain that God will speak to to accomplish for you what you are unable to accomplish for yourself.
Ultimately, what the angel is speaking of here could not be accomplished by Zechariah and Elizabeth on their own. If they could have accomplished it on their own, they would have done so already. But now when God is brought into the situation he makes possible what was previously impossible.
And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”
This is a verse I want to key in this morning. The angel tells Zechariah that he would be unable to speak. He would be silent until the time that the promise of God would be fulfilled. What is the purpose of this?
A few thoughts. This is done so that Zechariah would know that this was God at work. God would leave no doubt that he is the one who is accomplishing this great thing. And that through this, God would get the glory.
The second thing is that it guards against presumption.
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Many of us do not do silence well. We live very busy lives. We are always on the move. And many of us struggle to find adequate rest.
We all have a lot to say. Often our minds are going a million miles a minute. We have thoughts for God and about God.
Sometimes we need to be forced to just be still and silent before God.
I imagine that many of you the alarm clock went off this morning. You got up and you got busy preparing for your day getting ready. Getting the kids up and ready to come to worship this morning. Maybe got here just in time. You rushed in during the opening songs. You engage in the worship. Worship will end and you will get the kids out of Sunday School. You go home. You need to get lunch ready. Maybe you need to get groceries for the week. Maybe you have Christmas shopping to do. Maybe you have laundry to do. Maybe you need to get your exercise routine in. Maybe you have that weekend project that you need to finish up. Maybe you have homework that you need to help the kids with before Monday morning. Maybe you have the football game to watch! Go Bears - beat the Giants! Maybe you have a book to read that you have been wanting to read. Maybe you will spend a half hour checking your Facebook feed.
My point is that we are going. We are doing. Even in a relaxed state, we are often engaging our mind or our thoughts in a constructive or non-constructive way.
What is out of the ordinary is to just sit and be still. Not to take a nap. But to just be still and be quiet.
It is a spiritual experience. It is something that can make us uncomfortable. We start fidgeting. We start squirming.
But this is something that I want to challenge you towards during this Advent Season. A season in which we find ourselves running from one thing to the next and never stop.
Take 5 minutes not to do anything. Just 5 minutes to simply be. Just be present with the moment. Just be present with God.
Set a timer. Hey Siri, set a timer for 5 minutes.
No radio. No TV. No music.
This is not time to pray. I am not telling God anything. I am just silencing myself before God, to allow God space to do what God will do.
Quiet your mind. It is not time to think about what you have to do later in the afternoon. It is not time to worry about how I am going to make the car payment. You think, “how do I do that?”
Pay attention to your breathing. Breath in. Breath out. Take a deep breath in. Then exhale.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew Word for Spirit literally meant breath or wind. When you breath in focus your mind on the Spirit of God entering in. As you breath out, think of the fruit of the Spirit that are produced from his presence. Love, joy, peace, patience kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.
A great time to do this is first thing in the morning. For most people, they wake up rushed, hectic, and rushed. To enter the day with the calm, the clarity, and the peace of mind that comes from God - do the opposite of what most people do. Think about the difference that will make to prepare you to for what God would have you do.
I want to encourage you to practice this at any point in the day. But consider doing this before your devotion time. Before you go to God in prayer. Before you open up your Bible. Use this as a way to set this time up.
And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.
All the while, the people are wondering what is going on. They are wondering what is taking so long. Where is Zechariah?
Now the expectation was that the priest would come out of the temple and offer the blessing to the people. So he was unable to do what was expected of him. That is how God works. When he gets hold of us, he has a way of changing things. The things we think are expected. The things we make important are no longer important. When Zechariah went into the temple, he probably thought that this would be the most important thing he would ever do in his life. But when God has his way, what Zechariah thought was important become only a stepping stone for a much greater thing - and that was fathering John the Baptist.
And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”
That is the end of the reading and our message for today. Again, I leave you with this Advent Challenge.
Advent Challenge
Take 5 minutes each day to be silent each day
++ Read Luke 1
During this season of Advent we are going to cover Luke 1.
December 2: Luke 1:5-25
December 9: Luke 1:26-38
December 16: Luke 1:39-56
December 23: Luke 1:57-80